I took this photograph at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin in 2008. I printed a small version of it for an exhibition at Indiana State University. Recently, I've been thinking about how photography could benefit the conversation between objects in my shows. Adding Julius Shulman photos to the "Building Futures" show at Solomon Projects in 2007 was a huge step in that direction.I saw these two chairs and they haunted me for about an hour until I went back through the museum to shoot it. I originally took the photo as a document, not a piece of art. I love the story it tells, or the one you could make up. It could almost be a black and white photo. So many questions come to mind for me when I see it. Two chairs would suggest a couple, but I assumed the chairs were for security staff. So why two? If they were for the public, why not a bench? The chairs are slightly askew and appear to have sublte differences. The institutional feel of the marble floor and white chairs is somehow offset by the heat radiator on the wall and the warmth of the light coming through the window.
The window sill is illuminated, carrying the eye to the control knob at the right edge of the image. In many ways the knob controls the composition for me. Without it, the image would be rather symetrical. I loved my trip to Berlin and this image captured the essence of what i enjoyed about the city.
This image is now available in an edition of 10, with 2 artist proofs. The image is 4"x 6". They are framed alike in a narrow flat white frame, with a 1 1/2" 8 ply mat, with museum glass. It is approximately 8"x 10" in the frame.
